Lopez Makes Lundy Work For All Ten To Get FNF Win

It looked early on like Hank Lundy was going to use a clear hand speed advantage and maybe see a mean message to vet Patrick Lopez that his best days were behind him, as his power shots found the Lopez chin too frequently. But Lopez hung tough, and made Lundy work every round of the scheduled ten in the main event of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, which took place at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, CT. The judges saw it 99-91, 97-92, 95-94 for the slicker, more mobile Lundy, who scored a knockdown in the second.

Lundy (19-1-1 entering; from Philly; age 27; two fights from a TKO11 loss to John Molina) was 134 3/4 pounds, Lopez (20-3 entering; from Venezuela, living in NH; age 33) was 135 pounds. Stat-wise, Lopez had an edge 152-467 to 138-463 for Lundy. Atlas saw it 96-93, Lundy.

In the first, Lundy hurt Lopez with a left hand 50 seconds in. Lundy, a righty who sometimes goes lefty, started out lefthanded.

In the second, Lundy scored a knockdown, and Lopez was up, with just eight seconds remaining in the round. A straight, lead left hit clean and did heavy damage.

In the third, Lundy, still lefty–and why would he change what was working?–had more luck with his faster hands. A head clash opened a gash on Lopez’ cheek early in this round. He didn’t deflate, though. He kept pressuring Lundy, and had him switch to righty by the end of the frame.

In round four, the distance between the two had lessened. Lopez, by the way, has some decent hand speed himself. He was snapping the jab with enough authority to give Lundy pause, at the very least.

In the fifth, Lundy was in orthodox stance. Now he was moving more to his right, into Lopez’ left, whereas before he was moving more to his left, so the move didn’t pay obvious dividends immediately. A cut opened on Lundy’s right eye by the end of the round.

In the sixth, Lundy was lefty again. He boxed smart, jabbing, mostly singles.

In the seventh, the blood coming down from Lundy’s right eye didn’t seem to bother him. He was outboxing Lopez handily.

In round eight, we saw a few trades early. This would be, overall, to Lopez’ advantage, one would think, because Lundy’s mobility was hard to tame for him. Lopez had success boring in, but Lundy landed some hard, clean counters.

In the ninth, Lundy backed up, and wasn’t busy enough early. Both men would’ve been served to go to the body more. They traded with 40 seconds to go. It was another tight round.

In the tenth, Lundy acted like he had rounds in his pocket early on. He should not have. He was getting outworked. Then he potshotted a few clean blows, and maybe took the round back. We’d go to the cards.

Mickey and Dicky joined Brian Kenny in studio, and charmed the universe with their chowdery accents. They sent good vibes out to mom Alice, getting over a heart attack. She’s getting her strength back in a Cambridge, Mass. rehab center, and Micky said she’s started eating after two months of no solids.

SPEEDBAG Atlas gave props to MMA, for putting on competitive fights. He mentioned this context of lauding 50s era welterweight titlist Tony DeMarco, who campaigned in an era where the welters engaged in tough fight after tough fight.